I have been wanting a dress with sleeves for ages. I've been looking through pattern offerings for possibly a year now, but hadn't found quite the dress I wanted. Originally I wanted a button through dress, and actually I think I still do want a button through dress with sleeves, but in the meantime, I like the details of the Stylearc Asha dress.
I bought this viscose crepe from Fabulous Fabrics.
The dress has a shirred waist and shirred hem sleeves.
I don't love shirring elastic. Mostly because it seems to perish quite quickly, so the garment doesn't last very long. A couple of years ago I came across this fabulous elastic that gives you the effect of shirring, without having to either sew over shirring elastic or put elastic in your bobbin. It is also easier to control the amount of stretch that you want.
You simply stretch the elastic the amount that you want, pin it to the garment, and sew between the rows whilst the elastic is stretched. For the waistband, I found it easier to baste the elastic in place at quarter intervals, rather than pinning.
The other change that I made to the pattern was to continue the neck binding to create a tie. I mustn't do a good job of button-and-loops because they are always coming undone, and I thought that the longer tie would work with this style of dress.
I met up with some sewing buddies in King's Park today, so I have photos of the dress on me in a different setting! I'll admit that the elastic waist is a bit on the frumpy side on my pear shape, but I still love the dress.
